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Pomona shocks top-ranked Bear Creek

By John Rosa, Special to the Rocky

Published September 19, 2008 at 11:33 p.m.

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Donovan Bowens knows how to return a favor.

A senior running back at Pomona, Bowens is often the beneficiary of superb blocking by the Panthers' offensive front. But in leading the sixth-ranked Panthers to a 41-31 upset of No. 1 Bear Creek on Friday night at the North Area Athletic Complex, Bowens showed he knows how to clear a path as well.

His downfield block late in the first quarter sprung quarterback Nathan Grimes for the final 10 yards of a 52-yard touchdown run, putting the Panthers in the lead for good at 14-7.

Bowens also played decoy on another scoring play a short time later, sucking in the Bears defense after a fake handoff into the middle of the line as Grimes rolled out and hit Michael Sullivan for a 2-yard touchdown toss and a 21-7 lead.

"I'll do whatever for the team," Bowens said. "I think this was the best game I've played in my high school career."

Bowens also did his fair share of damage while he had the ball in his hands, finishing with 247 yards rushing and two scores on 28 carries. He started the game by breaking free for a 57-yard touchdown run on the second snap of the contest, and he had 172 rushing yards by the intermission while leading Pomona to a 28-7 halftime lead.

"Coach (Jay Madden) told me if I didn't break a long one tonight, we might be in trouble. So I went out and broke a long one," Bowens said.

Grimes also had an outstanding game, finishing with an extremely efficient 244 yards and four touchdowns of combined offense. He completed 10 of 11 passes for 143 yards and had a stretch of three consecutive touchdown passes that spanned the second and third quarters.

Early on, it looked as if it might be a shootout, as Bear Creek answered Bowens' quick score almost immediately. Tommy Flanagan slipped three tackles en route to a 35-yard touchdown that tied the score at 7-7 with 8 minutes, 40 seconds remaining in the first quarter.

But the Bears wouldn't strike again in the first half, as Pomona's defense did a good job of limiting them to short gains. Bears quarterback Zach Thenell completed 10 passes in the first half, but only one of those went for more than 10 yards.

The Bears were also denied a score late in the second quarter, when Tony Costello batted down a fourth-down pass from Thenell in the end zone.

Thenell led Bear Creek on a furious second-half comeback attempt, finishing with 358 yards passing and three scores. But Pomona slammed the door on the Bears when Costello picked off Thenell in the end zone with 2:52 to play.

Flanagan had 271 yards of total offense and found the end zone four times for Bear Creek.

Bear Creek7 0 16 8 - 31

Pomona14 14 6 7 - 41

First quarter

P - Donovan Bowens 57 run (Tony Moore kick); BC - Tommy Flanagan 35 run (Flanagan kick); P - Nathan Grimes 52 run (Moore kick)

Second quarter

P - Michael Sullivan 2 pass from Grimes (Moore kick); P - Drew Ebner 11 pass from Grimes (Moore kick).

Third quarter

P - Ebner 26 pass from Grimes (kick failed); BC - Flanagan 8 pass from Zach Thenell (Dajuan Mack pass from Thenell); BC - Flanagan 52 pass from Thenell (Mack pass from Thenell).

Fourth quarter

P - Bowens 6 run (Moore kick); BC - Flanagan 57 pass from Thenell (Armoni Brewington pass from Thenell).

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING - BC, Flanagan 11-83, Mack 1-14, Lukas Lockett 3-7, Thanell 1-(minus 10). P, Bowens 28-247, Nathan Grimes 9-101, Dylan Buononato 3-57, Emilio Henry 4-9.

PASSING - BC, Thenell 21-34-1 358. P, Grimes 10-11-0 143.

RECEIVING - BC, Dylon Chafin 10-123, Flanagan 6-188, Mack 5-47. P, Buononato 3-53, Ebner 3-45, Michael Sullivan 2-33, Cody Morton 1-13, Bowens 1-(minus 1).